Apocephalus paraponerae Borgmeier, 1958
This fly is an internal parasitoid of large ants of the subfamily Ponerinae in the New World tropics.
Oviscape with thin lateral darkenings, venter of abdominal segment 6 usually with single pair of long setae (sometimes with two pairs). See Brown (2000) for more information.
Head: Frons yellow. Two pairs of supra-antennal setae present, with lower pair smaller than to subequal to upper pair. Flagellomere 1 yellow, round. Palpus brown.
Thorax: Scutum and scutellum light brown, pleuron yellow. Anepisternum bare. Anterior scutellar seta small, subequal to posterior setulae of scutum
Wing: Mean costal length 0.57 wing length, range 0.53-0.59. Vein R2+3 present. Halter brown
Legs: Legs yellowish, darker on anterior face at apex of hind femur, otherwise unmodified.
Female abdomen: Oviscape broad, roughly triangular, lightly sclerotized, with thin lateral darkenings and small preapical dark spots more medially. Triangular ventral postapical sclerite present (as in all members of the A. paraponerae subgroup of species)
Morehead (e.g. Morehead et al. 2001) studied this species extensively and concluded that it might represent a series of cryptic species on different hosts. Her evidence was based on studies of those flies attracted to Paraponera and Ectatomma; similar studies with more hosts are necessary.
Multiple parasitoids of ponerine ants: Paraponera clavata, Ectatomma tuberculatum, Pachycondyla spp. See Brown and Feener 1991a, b.
Neotropical Region: widespread in lowland rain forests from Costa Rica to northern Argentina